With Ireland winning the World Cup by a landslide, raucous singing erupted into the night air as the Irish supporters sung their praises joyfully. Hermione stuck close to Harry & Ron as the group followed the rest of the audience as it slowly trickled out of the stadium and into the fields below.
Once back at their tents, nobody felt quite like retiring to bed just yet and given the rambunctious party outside, Mr Weasley eventually agreed to let them enjoy one cup of cocoa each before they went to bed. Soon enough, they were all caught up in arguing enjoyably over the match and the little nuances that they would've done.
Hermione couldn't stop grinning at how Ron began to recite sonnets about Krum and how he should've left it longer to catch the snitch; in turn Harry was lamenting on how the talented Bulgarian seeker did so many interesting moves & how he couldn't wait to try them out.
It was only once Ginny had fallen asleep with her head falling onto Hermione's shoulder and her cup of cocoa spilt all over the floor, that Mr Weasley called a halt to their discussions and called for everyone to head to bed.
Calling a goodnight to the boys, Hermione led a tired and stumbling Ginny into their tent next door, where the two then quietly changed into their pyjamas and readied for bed. No sooner had Ginny's head hit the pillow had she fallen asleep with limbs sprawled akimbo, however in turn, Hermione had decided to read for a little bit.
With her boots strewn at the foot of the chair, Hermione tucked her feet up underneath her, only shifting slightly as she got comfy with the book she had brought. The hem of the large striped Muggle rugby shirt she had worn that day hung low across her thighs, practically hiding the pasty floral pyjama shorts that she had swapped her jeans for as she settled in one of the big comfy chairs occupying the living room.
A single lantern hovered above her head, offering a small spotlight for which to read by. It was easy to drift off into her book, even with the loud party still echoing out across the moors from the Irish end of the field. The book in question was an old hardback leather-bound thing about the size of a small journal and though there was no author, the cover was still engraved with the title: Sabrina Morningstar: The Witch, The Queen, The Legend.
Sophie Martins, a pretty fifth year Ravenclaw and fellow coven member, had recommended the book to Hermione at the beginning of the year when she had inquired more about covens and their origins. As it was, the book had been well-read several times in the following months as evident by the many creases in the spine and the tattered Marks & Spencer's receipt inside acting as a bookmark. But nevertheless, Hermione still dutifully cracked open the book (though she probably knew it back-to-front by now) and began to whittle away the night until drowsiness pulled at her lids, drawing her down into sleep.
It felt like Hermione had just been reading about the trials and tribulations of Sabrina Morningstar when she was shaken awake by a frantic Mr Weasley. "Huh?" Hermione muttered as she awoke; dimly she was aware that something was terribly, terribly wrong. The noises in the campsite had changed from the cheerful songs of praise to terrified screams and the sound of people running like rats on a sinking ship.
"No time, Hermione…just grab a jacket and get outside—quickly!" Mr Weasley ordered as he all but hauled his youngest out of her bed and towards the door. At those words, Hermione woke completely. The urgency in his tone making her bolt upright as she grabbed her oversized denim jacket from where it lay strewn across the back of her chair; stuffing her book in one of the pockets as she went.
Completely forgoing shoes, Hermione quickly checked to see that her wand was still tucked in the breast pocket of her jacket before she bolted out of the door and into the chaos waiting outside. Horror struck Hermione's face at what she saw. By the firelight, she was able to see that throngs of people were running into the woods, fleeing from…something that was emitting odd flashes of light and sounded eerily like gunfire.
The loud jeers and roaring laughter that drifted over the moors brought her attention to a crowd of tightly packed wizards with their wands pointed skywards. From here she was unable to see their faces—nothing of significance really stood out—though the dark hooded heads and four struggling people in the air above them, gave Hermione an idea of who they were. Death Eaters.
It soon became too much to watch and Hermione hurried over to join Harry and Ron where they stood watching the Death Eaters torture Mr Roberts and his family. "Harry! Ron!" Hermione called, as she joined them, practically stepping on their toes and gripping tight to their hands as her eyes roved over both of them making sure that they weren't hurt.
Both boys stood close enough together that their bed hair practically merged together. Harry's typically messy locks stuck up at so many different angles that it looked like he'd been dragged backwards through a hedge, whilst Ron's own mop resembled a startled Pygmypuff.
On one hand, Ron had worn one of his Weasley sweaters over a pair of red rumpled snitch-covered pyjama pants. The handle of his wand could just be seen poking out the top of his right sock where he'd jammed it after putting on his socks & shoes.
On the other hand, Harry had grabbed yet another oversized blue flannel shirt which he wore overtop of his Gryffindor Quidditch training shirt; underneath it all was a pair of faded flannel pyjama pants and mismatched socks that were stuffed into his shoes. Despite their obvious bed hair and bedraggled appearances, both boys stood watching the scene around them with wide eyes and fearful faces.
Ginny and Mr Weasley appeared not long after. "We're going to help the Ministry" Mr Weasley shouted over the noise as he rolled up his sleeves and Bill, Charles and Percy had already sprinted passed with wands raised, "You lot—get into the woods and stick together. I'll come fetch you when this is all sorted out!"
"C'mon" Fred grabbed Ginny's hand and started to pull her towards the wood. With eyes wide in fear and heart pounding in her chest, Hermione pulled Harry & Ron after and George took up the tailing end, following them all into the wood.
When they reached the treeline, Hermione glanced back to see that the crowd beneath the Roberts family had grown in size, though the Ministry wizards were trying their best to force their way through to the centre of the crowd.
By now the once colourful lanterns that had lit the way to the stadium were now extinguished leaving the throngs of people to stumble around in the dark. And Merlin, was it dark!—Hermione could barely see her own hand in front of her face, let alone the path in front of them.
Childish cries, anxious shouts and panicked voices echoed throughout the dark wood as they were pushed around by people trying to escape from the horrors behind them; all the while Hermione never let go of Harry and Ron.
Suddenly, Ron let out a yelp of pain as he fell, letting go of Hermione's hand so as to catch himself before he fell face first onto the dark forest floor. "What happened?" Hermione asked anxiously, tightening her grip on Harry as she felt Ron's hand disappear, "Ron, where are you? Oh this is stupid—Lumos!"
A bright beam of light illuminated from the tip of her wand and directed them down the narrow path to where Ron lay sprawled on the floor. "Ron!" Hermione rushed over, pulling Harry along behind.
"Tripped over a tree root" Ron muttered angrily getting to his feet.
"Well, with feet that size, hard not to" Drawled a familiar voice from behind them. Turning sharply, the trio saw Draco Malfoy standing alone and leaning lackadaisically against the tree behind him, with arms folded he seemed to have been watching the scene at the campsite through a gap in the trees.
"Why don't you fuck off, Malfoy!" Ron sneered, something Hermione knew he would never have the balls to say in front of his mother.
"Language, Weasley" Said Draco, eyes gleaming "Hadn't you better be hurrying along now? You wouldn't like her spotted, now would you?" He nodded at Hermione at the same time a bomb-like blast exploded amongst the campsite and flash of brilliant green lit up the trees around them.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at the blonde.
"Granger, they're after Muggles. D'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? Because if you do, hang around…they're moving this way and it would all give us a laugh"
"Hermione's a witch" Harry snarled in defiance.
"Have it your way Potter" Malfoy grinned maliciously, "If you think they can't spot a schlammure stay where you are"
"Oh well done, Malfoy" Hermione sarcastically clapped her hands as she turned to the cocky blonde, "How long did it take you to come up with that one? Do you have any more? No? Then fuck off!"
Spinning on her heel, she dragged the two surprised wizards further into the woods with her head held high. Behind them, she was sure Draco had called something offensive towards there backs, but Hermione paid him no mind.
"Wha—where did that come from?!" Ron demanded, easily outpacing Hermione's small steps.
"We've got enough shit to deal with and Malfoy's taunts are not one of them" Hermione huffed.
"You're swearing! But you never swear!"
"Seriously? That's what you're stuck on?"
"What was that? What did he say?" Harry interjected, puzzling over the strange word.
"It's German" Hermione sighed in resignation, "It literally means 'mud whore' He basically just called me a Mudblood in another language"
"What?!"
"Nevermind, it doesn't matter, let's just go"
"But Hermione—!"
"It's fine; you hear a word often enough and it loses all meaning and force"
"…I'll bet you anything his dad is one of that masked lot!" Ron said hotly.
"Well, with any luck the Ministry will catch them!" Hermione replied, "Oh for Circe's sake! Where have the others got to?" It was only now that the trio noticed that Fred, George and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, though the path was packed with plenty of other people all looking over their shoulders with understandably nervous expressions directed back towards the now deserted campsite. "Fred and George can't have gotten far" Ron reasoned, pulling out his wand and lighting it just as Hermione had done.
"Ah, no, damn!…I've lost my wand!" Harry cried shuffling through his pockets as he did so.
"You're kidding!" Ron and Hermione raised their own wands high enough for them to spread their narrow beams farther along the ground in their search for their friend's wand. "Maybe it's back at the tent?" Ron suggested.
"Maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running?" Hermione worried.
"Yeah, maybe…" Harry murmured.
Nearby, a rustling noise that barely broke above the roar of the panicked crowd made the trio jump in fright. Winky, Barty Crouch's house-elf (who they'd met earlier in the evening), came rushing out of the brush squeaking as she ran by. "There is bad wizards about! People high—high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!"
"What's up with her?" Ron looked after the distraught elf, "Why can't she run properly?"
"Bet she didn't ask permission to hide" Said Harry.
"You know, house-elves get a very raw deal!" Hermione piped up, "It's slavery, is what it is! That Mr Crouch made her go all the way up to the top of the stadium—even though she was terrified and now he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?"
"Well, the elves are happy, aren't they?" Replied Ron, "You heard old Winky back at the match…'House-elves is not supposed to have fun'…That's what she like, being bossed around…"
"It's people like you, Ron, who prop up rotten & unjust system just because they're too lazy to—"
Hermione practically jumped out of her skin as another loud bang shook the wood and broke through the bickering duo, which really wasn't the best time for it anyway. Next to her Hermione could've sworn Harry looked relieved that they had suddenly stopped arguing.
"Let's just go" Ron suggested, glancing worriedly at Hermione as he took Malfoy's words into account.
"Right" Hermione took up the boy's hands once more and they moved further into the dark wood, tripping and stumbling over the undergrowth that lined the floor. Following the path into the dark wood, they passed by a group of goblins cackling over a sack of gold—no doubt their winnings from the match and further along cluttered under a patch of silvery light stood a gaggle of wizards trying to impress the veela there—they were practically throwing themselves at the women.
Redirecting the trio away from the drooling wizards, Hermione and the boys soon found themselves in the very heart of the wood; where everything was much quieter and she could see the glittering night sky through the gap in the canopy made by the ring of trees in the clearing.
"I reckon we just wait here, y'know. We'll hear anyone coming a mile off" Harry suggested. Though the words were hardly out of his mouth when Bagman came stumbling out from behind a tree right ahead of them. Contrary to the bright and happy man they had met earlier in the evening, this time he wore a strained and white expression.
"Who's that?" Bagman called, squinting in to the darkness as he tried to make out their faces, "What are you doin in here?"
"Well, there's a sort of riot going on…" Ron trailed.
"What?"
"At the campsite…some got a hold of a Muggle family…"
"Damn them!" Bagman swore loudly, before he disapparated away without another word.
"Not exactly on top of things is he?" Hermione frowned.
"He's a great beater though" Ron defended weakly, "The Wimbourne Wasps won the league three times in a row while he was with them"
"…I hope the others are okay" Hermione watched Ron's tiny figurine of Krum wander around the forest floor as they waited.
"They'll be fine"
"Imagine if your Dad catches Lucius Malfoy" Harry smiled, "He's always said he'd like to get something on him"
"That'd wipe the smirk off old Draco's face" Ron grinned.
"Those poor Muggles though…" Hermione murmured, glancing back over her shoulder towards the campsite, "What if they can't get them down?"
"They will" Ron reassured, "They'll find a way"
Hermione went to say more when she suddenly swung around, shoulders tensed as she looked in the direction that the sound had come from. "Hermione? What is it?" Harry asked turning to the girl.
"I thought I heard something" Hermione murmured rising to her feet and padded closer to the treeline that bordered the clearing of the wood. Sharing a glance between them, both Harry and Ron stopped their chatter as they too, turned to follow her gaze out across the clearing.
At first, Hermione had dismissed the sound of staggering footsteps to be those of another frantic camper but that idea was soon rejected when the sound of the footsteps came to a halt not too far from where the trio were hiding. Behind her, Hermione heard Harry call softly across the clearing, asking who was there but there came no reply.
Unfortunately, just as it had been within the dark wood, Hermione was unable to make out anything or anyone too far in front of her despite the opening in the canopy over their heads. And then without warning, the silence was ripped apart by a voice which shouted a panicked spell out into the night air.
"MORSMORDRE!" Hermione flinched back at the green spell that erupted from the wizards wand (for the voice who uttered the spell was masculine) and the twisting vastness of the glittering green that lit up the sky; piercing through the pitch black like it was nothing.
"What the—?" Ron gasped jumping to his feet as his eyes became glued to the green in the sky.
Right before their eyes, the vast glittering green began to shift and take the shape of a large skull with a snake slithering in and out of the different orifices. Muggleborn though she was, Hermione as per reputation, was well-read and recognised the insignia for what it was. The Dark Mark.
All around them, the woods erupted into terrified screams, ones that put the previous ones to shame. By now the grisly neon skull had floated high enough above the clearing that it illuminated the entire woods around them, casting the trees in an eery green glow.
"Harry, c'me on move!" With her heart in her throat, Hermione immediately spun on her heel and raced back towards the boys, grabbing ahold of Ron's sleeve and Harry's collar she began to drag them as far away from the mark as possible.
"What's the matter?" Harry appeared startled by her sudden change in parlour and attitude.
"It's the Dark Mark, Harry! You-Know-Who's sign!"
"Voldemorts—?"
"Harry, come on!"
Though Harry tried to turn and look over his shoulder at the woods behind them, Hermione steamrolled the trio forward, barley making it a few hurried steps before the sounds of apparition popped all around them, announcing the arrival of several different wizards.
Oh God! That wizard called in more Death Eaters! Immediately, Hermione's mind jumped to the worst thing possible as the wizards came in closer with their wands raised toward them. She barely had time to think before Harry had dragged her and Ron to the forest floor and spells began to fly.
"STUPEFY!" At least twenty voices roared in unison as every spell connected with each other above their heads and rained down on the trio in a series of sparks and a powerful wind swept through the clearing at the aftershock of the spells. In an act of complete panic, Hermione ripped her hands from the boys and raised them above her head in an 'X' shape with both fists and eyes clenched shut.
All at once, the movement around them stopped, though the twenty voices of the witches and wizards around them turned to panic at the sudden wandless spell. "What…? What is she…doing?" Gasped one wizard, unable to move from where he had been frozen in place.
"Let us go…you crazy witch!" Cried another.
The spell that Hermione had used in her panic had caused all the surrounding witches and wizards to freeze in place, their limbs no longer responded to their own commands sans their mouths which seemed to work just fine. Though of those who had spoken, they seemed to have much trouble doing so; gritting out their words through unintentionally clenched teeth and gasping breathes that rattled in around in their lungs.
"…'Mione?" Harry whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder when he eventually opened his eyes to the scene around him. "Mione, what are you doing?"
"Harry that's old magic…" Ron muttered in reply, some part of him recognising the old magic from tales that his mother had told them when they were younger.
"Mione? It's okay, we're okay" Harry tried again when Hermione refused to move from her hunched position.
This time Hermione slowly peeled opened her eyes to find Harry's concerned gaze searching her face for something whilst Ron appeared scared; of her or what was going on she wasn't sure. Ever so slowly she drew herself out of the hunched position she had fallen into until she rose to her feet with the two boys, but both her arms were still crossed in front of her.
Absentmindedly, Hermione noticed that Mr Weasley had come barrelling into the clearing with panic clearly written in his expression and voice. "Mione it's okay, you can stop now" Ron whispered as the three huddled in close and Hermione's eyes swept over the wizards surrounding them. "Dad's here, it's okay, you can stop now"
At first Hermione refused to lower her arms, instead letting her eyes rove over the ministry officials in front of them, to where Mr Weasley stood—the only Ministry wizard who was unfrozen— then back to Harry and finally Ron.
Both Harry and Ron nodded as if to reassure her it was okay, before Hermione let out a shaky breathe and slowly began to unravel the spell she had cast. Wordlessly her clenched fingers uncurled one by one until both palms were facing outwards as if she had let something go and then she gently uncrossed her arms, letting them fall gently to her sides once more.
Hermione shifted nervously as the wizards around them regained the feeling in their limbs, some slumped over in place whilst others collapsed to the forest floor heaving in lungfuls of air. "…'Mione, what was that?" Harry asked as the brunette tucked herself into his side and clung to Ron's arm as if to shield herself.
"…I panicked…" Hermione muttered, hiding her face in the collar of her large jacket.
"Mione that was old magic" Ron added, "Where'd you even learn that?"
"I've only read about it"
"…You're a little scary sometimes, y'know that? Brilliant, but scary" Hermione felt the corners of her lips curl up at the familiar line.
"Ron—Harry—Hermione—" Mr Weasley bustled over to the trio who were huddled in close together, completely bypassing the recovering wizards around him, "Are you alright?" Before they could answer however, Mr Crouch led the march towards them, his face taut with rage.
"Out of the way, Arthur" Mr Crouch demanded, "Which one of you did it? Which one of you conjured the Dark Mark? Was it you, witch?"
"We didn't do that!" Defended Harry, gesturing up at the glowing green skull.
"We didn't do anything!" Ron added, "What did you attack us for?"
"Do not lie to me!" Mr Crouch roared, his wand now directed towards the three teens, You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"
"Barty" Whispered a witch garbed in a long woollen dressing gown, "They're just kids, Barty, they'd never be able to—"
"Where did the Mark come from, you three?" Mr Weasley asked quickly, though still trying not to panic the teens.
"Over there" Hermione pointed shakily to where she had seen the light erupt from, "There was some behind the tree…the shouted words…an incantation…"
"Oh, stood over there, did they?" Mr Crouch turned his mocking disbelief to Hermione this time, "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how that Mark was summoned, missy…And that spell you used just now, how can we trust what you saying? Hm?"
"That's because I read. From books, y'know those things with words in them?" Hermione replied hotly, suddenly affronted at the accusations being thrown her way.
"Mione, you're not helping yourself" Ron murmured into her ear.
"Hmpf!" Hermione crossed her arms with a pout as she stared defiantly at Mr Crouch.
Mr Crouch's face turned sour at the reply though none of the other Ministry Officials seemed to think that the bedraggled teens were involved. Harry was missing his wand and Hermione wore no shoes for Merlin's sake!
"We're too late anyway" Spoke up the woollen witch, "They'll have disapparated by now"
"I don't think so" Replied a wizard with a scrubbily brown beard.
"Our stunners went right through those trees…" Continued Mr Diggory, "There's a good chance we got them…"
"Amos, be careful!" A few wizards warned as Mr Diggory squared his shoulders and marched into the woods with his wand raised in the air. It was barely a few moments later when Mr Diggory's shout echoed back through the woods.
"Yes! We've got 'em! There's someone her! Unconscious! But—blimey…"
"You've got someone?" Mr Crouch called back in disbelief, "Who? Who is it?"
Twigs snapped and leaves rustled as Mr Diggory remerged from the trees with a tiny limp figure draped across his arms. A figure Hermione recognised as Winky, Mr Crouch's house-elf. No one moved or spoke as Mr Diggory laid the limp elf at Mr Crouch's feet, though it seemed all eyes were trained on the wizards as he stared transfixed at the small creature before him.
"This—cannot—be" Mr Crouch muttered jerkily, "No—" Quickly skirting Mr Diggory, Mr Crouch disappeared into the woods, intent on finding out if there was anyone else still there. They could hear his moving through the brush as he searched for any sign that it wasn't his elf, afraid of what it would imply.
"Bit embarrassing" Griped Mr Diggory, "Barty's house-elf, I mean…"
"Come off it, Amos" Mr Weasley murmured, "You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard sign. It requires a wand"
"Yeah and she had a wand"
"What?"
"Here, look" Mr Diggory pulled out the wand that had been in the elf's possession, "Had it in her hand; so that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broke, for a start"
The sudden reappearance of Ludo Bagman put Hermione on edge, not because the man was shifty or anything, but because he had appeared before them just before the Dark Mark had reappeared right after the Ministry wizards had arrived and accused the teens of the casting the Mark.
With Winky awoken by Mr Diggory the gathered group soon discovered that the wand she had found was Harry's and that she had found it amongst the trees. After more accusations were thrown around—this time accusing Harry and Mr Crouch of conjuring the Mark—Winky was relived of her status as Mr Crouch's elf, Harry was given his wand back and the trio followed Mr Weasley back through the dark woods to their tents.
This time, after recounting what had happened during the woods, everybody cramped themselves in together in the one tent, some kind of thinly veiled safety blanketing the group as they tucked themselves away for bed. Thankfully the only wounds sustained were by Bill, Charles and Percy who had fought on the frontlines and Hermione who had a couple of cuts and scratches on her feet from running through the woods barefoot.
While Hermione, Harry and Ron had commandeered one of double mattresses that they had curled up together on, Ginny had decided to bunk with the twins in the bed across from them, seemingly needing to be close to them so as to quench whatever paranoia still lay in their minds.
Hermione lay on her stomach in the middle with Ron to her right and Harry to her right. Where Ron had sprawled out across his side of the bed, Harry had curled up into a ball at her side and both boys had one arm outstretched that Hermione hugged to herself, keeping them close even when asleep. All around them snores echoed as the early morning light began to dance in the sky and with the sun beginning to rise, Hermione fell asleep snuggled in close to her best friends.